• The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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      5 months ago

      Texas is far more politically complicated than most Americans realize. Gains in Texas are proportionate to politicians running on platforms that matter to Texans. Hopefully if Cruz gets voted put the Democrats learn a valuable lesson about how to win in Texas. My concern is they’ll take all the wrong lessons and take the win to mean it’s time to double down on the old losing strategies.

      • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        As a leftist in Louisiana, it’s sometimes important to remind people that there were more Trump voters in California than Texas.

          • Whirlygirl9@kbin.melroy.org
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            5 months ago

            If that was the whole story, I would agree with you…but there has been a 30-year campaign of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and general fuckery that causes that number to be so low. In the 2020 election at the height of covid, Greg “piss baby” Abbott limited ballot drop-off locations to one. In smaller, traditionally more republican counties this wasn’t as bad for them…but they did this for Harris County… a very blue county with millions of residents. Texas doesn’t have drop-off boxes for absentee ballots, as some states do. Instead, to drop off a mail-in ballot in person at any location, voters must present an approved form of ID to a poll worker, and voters can’t turn in any one else’s ballot… sick gramma? fuck you drag her here to drop that shit off. Did they sue? you bet they did. did they lose? you bet they did because Texas has been fucked by the right for the last 30 years.

          • collapse_already@lemmy.ml
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            5 months ago

            Six percent seems winnable to me. Now that abortion is illegal, I hope that Hispanics will stop voting against their financial and deportation interests. I also hope that Republican women might have second thoughts about being forced to carry their rapists baby to term and will want access to IVF when they are making choices in the ballot booth. Religious minorities ought to be voting against enforced Christianity in public spaces such as schools.

            Voter suppression is real though. Additionally, many people feel disenfranchised because of the perception of an insurmountable majority. Biden is not helping turnout with unconditional support for the genocidal Israeli administration either.

            • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              Six percent seems winnable to me. Now that abortion is illegal, I hope that Hispanics will stop voting against their financial and deportation interests. I also hope that Republican women might have second thoughts about being forced to carry their rapists baby to term and will want access to IVF when they are making choices in the ballot booth. Religious minorities ought to be voting against enforced Christianity in public spaces such as schools.

              i understand what you are saying, but here is the thing: you can hope for all these things and you can hope they will be enough in spite of having bad candidate, or you can have all these things and they can work in concerto with good one.

              one of these options is clearly superior to the other and knowing what’s at stake i don’t sea a reason to settle up for the subpar option.

        • hime0321@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Except that our voting system makes that mostly irrelevant. California still had all their electors vote for Biden. Plus California has 10 million more people so that makes sense too.

          • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Yep. The best part of the U.S. constitution is the amendments. We should probably all spend some time thinking about that. Is our constitution good? The edits and polite suggestions are. The main bits are outdated, though, and were written by eloquent people who had the same knowledge of 2024 as we have for the year 2350.

          • Ech@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Statements like theirs are basically those “insightful” maps showing [insert trend here] by location that are essentially just population density maps.

      • neclimdul@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I mean sort of. But also I’ve seen people that disagree with everything Republicans and Republican candidates say, say with a straight face “at least I didn’t vote for a Democrat” so it’s also not that complicated at the same time.

      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        I feel like Beto could’ve pulled it off if he’d ceded the gun issue. Of course it’s a mess but the NRA has convinced people that school shootings need to be a part of life for freedoms or whatever.

        • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          ::sigh:: It’s not that the NRA has convinced people of anything, it’s that it’s literally a constitutional right. Dems need to drop this call for widespread bans on firearm types and features, and work more on addressing the circumstances that lead to violent crime in the first place.

          O’Rourke saying that they were literally going to take guns is exactly the stupidest fucking thing to say in Texas, especially given that Latinos, African-Americans, and women are the fastest growing demographics of new gun owners, and especially given that LGBTQ+ people are finally figuring out that cops and the gov’t won’t protect them and so they need to protect themselves.

      • Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Biggest thing is that Texas has horribly low voter turnout. The state could easily go purple if left leaning people would actually show up and vote.

    • GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Biden was only behind Trump by 600,000 votes in 2020. Biden actually received more votes in TX than NY, but we still need better voter registration and turnout rates.

  • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I will believe it when I see it. This asshole is always behind in polls but somehow manages to pull +5 to +10 advantage at the last moment. Do not believe in any of these “news”

    • Zetta
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      5 months ago

      I’m 25 so I have only been paying attention to elections for a handful of years now, but it seems like polls are something you can almost completely ignore in American politics, they don’t necessarily seem based in reality.

      • Davidchan@lemmynsfw.com
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        5 months ago

        As long as Allred isn’t dumb enough to repeatedly say he will ban all guns multiple times while campaigning in the state with the highest level of gun ownership in the union he might just win.

        • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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          5 months ago

          Really needs to focus on the social issues Texans care about. Texans are generally very in favor of public welfare programs and environmental protections. They just don’t tend to vote democrat because they do also tend to be pretty universally pro-life (not great) and pro-gun (my position on this has shifted slightly, my current stance is I don’t agree with either political party’s positioning) and the Democrats they’ve run have fallen into the Republican trap of focusing on the wedge issues the republicans choose to focus on. I cannot emphasize this enough: if the republicans are making a big stink about something, its a distraction for the thing they’re ACTUALLY interested in. Are you a Democrat who wants to win in Texas? Don’t step out putting gun rights and abortion front and center. You will lose. No matter how appealing you are to a Texan, you’re not as appealing as the people who’ve been siphoning up votes with these as their only potions. A better plan is to talk about how you’re gonna bolster social welfare for women and infants and how you’re going to reduce inflation and interest rates.

          God its been so frustrating watching the Democrats dash themselves on the Beto O’Rourke rocks over and over. 1) Beto sucks, in general 2) he extra special bonus sucks for running in Texas

          • Davidchan@lemmynsfw.com
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            5 months ago

            My point was Beto had a real shot at unseating Cruz and he fucked it all by repeatedly going on about how he wants to ban guns and never taking the chance to walk it back. You want gun control thats fine, but for the love of god do not campaign on it.

            • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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              5 months ago

              For sure. But I saw a ton of non Texas democrats interpreting his loss as that there was no way a Democrat could ever win in Texas when it was like… "Dude, he was really close while actively running a bad campaign for the state he was running in. Stop trying to court moderate Republicans and start picking up the black and gay voters out there (who in Texas are gun owners, so maybe don’t campaign on guns)

    • paf0@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Calling Ted Cruz “Rafael” is incredibly lazy. The man now licks The Donald’s boots after calling his wife ugly and left Texas to hide in Mexico during a disaster. There is so much more material.

  • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Fuck Raphael “Ted” “my wife is ugly and incapable of taking care of our children without me supervising” Cruz.

    • A_Filthy_Weeaboo@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Are you talking about the Raphel “Ted” who abandoned his constituents during a state disaster to go on a tropical vacation?!

      • neclimdul@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The great senator from Cancun? There’s another storm coming our way, I assume the bags are packed.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Rafael* Cruz.

      He’s not Italian. He is Latino*. A self-hating one. I’m embarrassed for him.

      *You could make a case indicating that Italians have Latin roots, but you know what I mean.

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I spell shit wrong because I’m a drunk. Whoever reads this, listen to this person and not me.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          Don’t sell yourself short. You aren’t just a drunk, you’re the Texas drunk!

          • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Naw, the Texas Drunk is a buddy of mine. He’s out east these days but his heart and his drinking problem are here with us.

            I’m definitely a problem drinker (I don’t recommend it, self medication is a bitch) but I’ve seen that guy do two weeks straight of staying drunk morning to night on vacation. We went camping at the beach and at 7 am I heard the csshh of a beer opening after being up most of the night drinking. He’s been doing that since 1998. If he’s not doing something that needs sobriety he’s tanked.

            One of the best guys I know. I’m just a drunk and I never want that other title. Too much work. I’m only tanked a couple of nights a week most of the time.

        • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yet somehow he could run for president. I didn’t really get that one, or how he could be so critical of Obama’s citizenship status when he himself wasn’t born in the US.

  • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
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    5 months ago

    Ted Cruz may not have as big a lead as he would have been hoping for in the race for his Texas Senate seat, according to a poll.

    A Manhattan Institute survey of 600 likely voters in Texas found that Cruz has a 3 point lead (46 percent to 43 percent) over his Democratic rival, rep. Colin Allred. This margin is down from a double-digit lead the incumbent Republican has enjoyed in previous Texas senate surveys.

      • Bassman1805@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Makes me want to buy some campaign signs…

        “Oust RINO Ted Cruz, vote All-Red for senate this November!”

        • aramis87@fedia.io
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          5 months ago

          “Ted” Cruz? You mean the guy who was born out of the county, who’s had gender-affirming care, and who refuses to use the name his parents gave him when he was born? That “Ted” Cruz?

            • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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              I forget the details in Cruz’s case (maybe the person who commented will fill in those), but it’s not anything like you’re thinking. “Gender affirming care” can mean any kind of medical treatment/care that is for the purpose of making you feel more like your gender identity. e.g. a man getting hair plugs to look more manly or taking hormone supplements to grow out his beard, etc.

              Again, I forget what the case is for Cruz, but it was something routine that technically falls under “gender affirming care” that he and his ilk are constantly demonizing. Just a fun little way to call him a hypocrite.

              • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                but it’s not anything like you’re thinking.

                It probably is.

                “Gender affirming care” can mean any kind of medical treatment/care that is for the purpose of making you feel more like your gender identity. e.g. getting hair plugs to look more manly, taking hormone supplements to grow out your beard, etc

                Yep, and I believe that more gender affirming care procedures are performed on cisgender persons the transgender persons.

                Edit: I managed to leave out a bunch of words the first time.

                Again, I forget what the case is for Cruz, but it was something routine that technically falls under “gender affirming care” that he and his ilk are constantly demonizing.

                And technically true is the best scenario for throwing in their faces! 😆 Especially when it’s applying their stupid laws to them in a “no not like that” way.

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Obligatory: when he was at Princeton, there was a tradition where during the first snowfall of the year, the sophomores would make a lap around their dorm naked. Somehow, Ted Cruz took a wrong turn and instead of waiting for him, everyone locked him out of the dorm.